Miller: Ready for Olympics, even if Sochi isn't

ADLER, Russia – The giant caldron finally will glow to life Friday, the XXII Winter Games commencing, and let’s just say the effort it took to reach this point required more than just asking someone for a light.

The clumsy, winding journey of the Olympic flame could not have been more symbolic of this entire gathering, which now arrives knee deep in controversy, concern and even comedy.

The torch relay covered some 40,000 miles, passed under a lake and traveled into space and included 14,000 bearers, one of whom suffered a fatal heart attack while attempting to walk his allotted distance, barely 200 yards.

There also was the unfortunate moment when the torch went out and, rather than with the backup flame, was relit using a disposable lighter. On the plus side, Russian authorities, wanting to correct the recent exaggerated reports, noted the torch officially had set people on fire on only three occasions.

Other than that, everything appears to be in place and on time, which is more than can be said of the greater Sochi area that’s hosting this event, hosting it sort of on the fly.

As the skating, curling and skiing begin, so continues the hammering, painting and landscaping. Workers have been scrambling to complete Olympic construction, which jump-started a massive rebuilding of a coastal resort area once famous for being the preferred vacation spot of Joseph Stalin.

It is an elaborate project that might one day be beautiful, a garden seeded by the Games and watered by the sweat of the athletes. But, for now, there’s the real impression that the Olympic structures here have been in place for only the past 17 minutes or so.

Sochi 2014. Some assembly still required.

“It looks like they could use a little more time,” said U.S. skier Bode Miller, who lives in Coto de Caza. “But I won’t pass judgment until after the opening ceremony. So they have a few more hours to finish things up.”

Vladimir Putin has assured everyone the tardiness won’t be an issue. If there’s anyone who knows about creating issues, it is Russia’s president. In July, Putin signed into law a measure meant to shield minors from the “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations.”

The legislation was poorly received by gays the world over, the cries for sponsor boycotts and threats of protest still ongoing.

Putin acquiesced by establishing an official “demonstration zone,” which sounds quite diplomatic until realizing the place is seven miles from the nearest Olympic venue. In other words, it’s OK to protest, as long as no one’s looking.

The politically polarizing topic resulted in leaders from the United States, Canada, France and Germany to very publicly decide they wouldn’t be attending the Games.

International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach this week accused those leaders of grandstanding and claimed they weren’t even invited to Russia in the first place, and aren’t you glad sports and politics mix so seamlessly?

Most of the concerns surrounding these Games relate to security and the fact that, at this moment, all of us here are sitting in a region known for its terrorist activity and general instability.

In 2012, a cache of grenade launchers, mortars and land mines was discovered fewer than 25 miles from Sochi, some experts theorizing the stockpile was earmarked specifically for this time and this target.

The Russians have deployed tens of thousands of troops and put thousands of police officers on “combat alert,” while the U.S. plans to have two warships in the adjacent Black Sea in case of an attack.

The lead-up to these Games has included talk of ballistic missiles, heat-seeking explosives and underwater machine guns, and those are the weapons of the good guys. Here’s hoping we don’t have to write about this facet of Sochi 2014 again.

As for the actual sports, a bunch of snowboarders already have been hurt attempting to negotiate a treacherous slopestyle course that Canada’s Sebastien Toutant compared to “jumping off a building.” One poor guy from Norway broke his collarbone while landing on his face.

The potential danger resulted in American Shaun White withdrawing from the first of his two events, diminishing the impact of one of the most well-known athletes at these Games even before the opening ceremonies.

The Jamaican bobsled team arrived, but all its clothing and gear did not. Two Russian biathletes are fighting a doping suspension. Some folks back in the States are upset because officials here blocked an inbound shipment of Chobani yogurt, an official sponsor of Team USA.

Putin, meanwhile, recently visited a local animal preserve where some endangered Persian leopard cubs are being raised as part of an Olympics-related, feel-good initiative.

He was photographed petting one of the exotic cats. A short time later, according to Russian news agencies, the animal scratched one journalist on the hand and bit another on the knee.

Good thing the Olympic flame didn’t pass through the preserve. Given what everyone went through in just getting the thing to Sochi, the list of endangered species might have grown by one: torchbearer.